The Life His Heart Desired
by JazyV100
Summary: Placed in summer before 3rd year. A chance meeting between old friends leads to the most shocking discovery the Wizarding world has ever seen. When the supposed past meets the present how will Harry cope with his hearts desires becoming reality? Potters alive, Abused Harry, Fudge bashing, Manipulating Dumbledore/Fudge, Good Weasley's, no horcrux, Sick Harry
1. But you're supposed to be dead

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from J. K. Rowling's original story but I do own the characters I create and the story I have written. If you would like to use any of it ask for permission.

Authors note: I am making the Marauders generation older by 5 years to work with my timeline.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

James Potter stepped off the plane and onto UK soil for the first time in 12 years. He looked back at his wife, Lily Potter nee Evans, with a smile watching as she scolded their youngest for trying to jump down 6 steps at once.

"But mommy! I'm going to be 6 years old this year! So I can jump six big steps now all by my self!"

"Eliza Jane Potter I will not let you jump six steps by yourself with or without help! It's dangerous! You could sprain your ankle then your poor father would have to carry your still five-year old-" "five and a half mommy!" "-Self around until we could go somewhere private."

"Mommy we could just use ma-." Two hands covered Eliza's mouth.

"Liz you sure are-"

"Trying to get-"

"A time-out before we even-"

"Get to check out-"

"Our new home!" This last bit was shouted in unison by Eliza's older twin siblings Jessica and Jacob.

Eliza pouted and looked to her dad hoping he would get her out of trouble.

"Sorry princess, you need to listen to your mum and not talk back."

Lily grabbed her youngest hand then tried to round up her younger twins to head over to the luggage pick up.

"Kids the faster we pick up our luggage the quicker we can go to the new house. Jessa and Jacob I want you to look out for your suitcases, Eliza tell Alyssa if you see yours honey, Alyssa I want you to help grab Eliza's while I help the twins. James, honey, get mine, Lyn, Jace and Carter, get yours and also the extra ones too please. We should have 12 all together." Lily instructed her family.

Carter and Jace both had blue cases cause they wanted to be identical in every way; Jessalyn, or Lyn as her family calls her, had a light lavender case; Alyssa had a dark purple case; Jessica had a turquoise case while her twin Jacob had a red case because he wanted to be a Gryffindor one day; and little Eliza Jane had a pink case because what other color case would a pretty princess have? Lily had a rose gold case and James had a red case like his son in honor of Gryffindor.

Once all of the luggage was retrieved they headed out to the cabbie lane.

* * *

It was an hour drive to the new house in the countryside of Westleton, a twelve-bedroom house, a room for every child to have their own and a few guest bedrooms. James and Lily planned to have their godson, Neville Longbottom, come over after they reintroduce themselves and get to know him better. They also wanted Sirius and Remus to stay with them and let them explain why they left so abruptly after Harry's death and didn't keep in touch; they were hoping the two Maunders would understand.

Lily was sitting in the back seat of the cabbie looking out the window letting her children's excited chatter wash over her as she thought of Neville, he was only a day older than Harry and would be turning thirteen this year. Neville and Harry probably would have had a joint birthday celebration had her sweet Harry lived and they had grown up together. While she was glad her other children had lived through the war she still missed her little forever baby, it had been one of the toughest decisions of her and James' marriage, to go into hiding with just Harry while letting Minister Fudge take her older four to a separate secret location. She always wondered what would have happened if they had refused to be separated and not allow anyone to know where she and her husband had taken their children. Would they all have survived or would Voldemort have found them like he did when they had separated?

 ** _~Flashback~_**

In a St. Mungo's hospital James and Lily Potter were sitting up in their hospital beds trying to get the staff to explain to them what had happened and where their son Harry was.

"James, why aren't they telling us anything? Do you think something happened to Harry?"

"I don't know honey, hopefully someone will come tell us what happened. We have gotten a clean bill of health but they wont release us yet because they said someone was coming to talk to us."

"I wish they would hurry up, we have been waiting for hours, I want to see my babies."

"I say we try to break-"

The door leading to their room opened up and Minister Fudge slipped in.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter, I have some good news and bad news as well. I have been told that you are ready to be released but I ordered the staff to hold onto you until I was able to explain some things."

"Where is my Harry? Is he ok?" Lily asked.

"Mrs. Potter I am here to inform you that two nights ago on Halloween You-Know-Who was defeated at your house, I would like to present you both with an Order of Merlin, second class for helping in defeating of You-Know-Who. That is the good news."

"But Minister, we barley remember what happened that night, we can't possibly accept an award for something we barley remember!" James exclaimed.

"Now see here Mr. Potter, you both helped and so you two _will_ accept this award. I would like you to brace yourselves for this next piece of information. It is with great regret that I have to inform you that your son Harry did not survive. He-"

"No! Not my baby! You're wrong! You're wrong!" Lily sobbed.

"How dare you! Harry is alive! This isn't funny Minister!" James yelled as he went to go comfort his wife.

"I am not making a joke, I had dreaded to tell you this news. I do need you to listen, _His_ supporters are still on the run, I think it would be best to take your other children and run. Tell no one where you are going, run away and heal. Take your other children and go grieve in a safe place, leave the country if you must."

"I want to s-s-see h-h-h-his b-b-body, I need to see h-his b-body." James demanded trying to stay strong for his heartbroken wife.

"I can't let you do that. His body is beyond recognition, the only way we were able to identify him was through a magical scan. So no, I will not allow you to see what is left of your son. Now I have had your children pack their things, they are ready to go as soon as you are. I' m sorry for your loss, have a good day."

Minister Fudge left the Potter couple who were clutching at each other sobbing.

A few hours later the Potters took what little they had, and left England with their children to find a new place out of the UK to live. Lily and James put their children first and settled down in a safe place before allowing themselves to grieve for their tiny little angel.

 ** _~End Flashback~_**

An arm wrapped around Lily's shoulder causing her to look at the man beside her, James still looked the same as he did the day they got married, just a little older. He had a few laughing lines around his mouth, crinkles around his eyes from all his smiling and just a few grey hairs; Merlin knew she had a few herself. She still saw that eighteen-year-old James waiting for her down at the end of the aisle on their wedding day, it was hard to believe they had been married for twenty years.

James looked into her eyes, "You ok?" He asked.

"I'm fine, just thinking about Neville, he has a birthday coming up at the end of the month." She doesn't have to say out loud what also was at the end of the month.

James gives her a squeeze "I miss him too, I still think about him everyday. I think we both will be thinking more about him being back in England, maybe when we are ready we can go visit where he is buried."

"I don't know if I will ever be ready, to look at a tombstone with his name on it will just finalize everything. I know he is gone but we fled the day we woke up in St. Mungo's, we weren't there when they buried him. We told Fudge to get Sirius and Remus to do that, Merlin we were such cowards. "

"That's fine, if you are never ready than we can honor Harry's little life a different way. I don't think we were cowards; we had our older children to think about, there were still Death Eaters on the loose. We had to keep our other children alive and well."

"Mom we're starving! Are we eating out tonight? There wont be any food at the house will there?" Jace their oldest asked from the very back of the cab.

"Oh yeah! Can we eat out? Try some of the local food!" Carter asked. He was Jace's twin; they took after Lily but had James' eyes.

"Please mom!"

"Daddy I want to try new foods!"

"Pretty please!"

"We will be on our best behavior!"

"Yeah we promise!"

"Hmmm, I don't know, what do you think honey?" James looked to Lily.

"I could go for some fish and chips." Lily replied.

The Potters chose a little restaurant off the main road called "The Tabby's choice", it was a quant little place that looked as if it were family owned.

When they walked in an older lady greeted them.

"How many?" she asked

"Nine please, three kids menus if you please." James replied.

"Alright, my sister Minnie will be out to take your order, we are short staff tonight."

With that she handed out the menus and walked away.

James looked around the table at his children, his oldest twins, Jace and Carter, were trying to convince each other to get something extremely spicy knowing they both were very sensitive to spicy foods; while his younger twins, Jessica and Jacob, were arguing that they couldn't order the same thing so one of them has to order something different but it shouldn't be them it should be the other.

"Jessalyn what are you going to get?" James asked.

"I don't know dad, what is black pudding?"

"Ha! I don't think you are ready for black pudding sweetie, that's some hard-core English food right there. I think you should wait a few years then try it. I'd stick with fish and chips for now."

Another elderly lady, who could only be the owner's sister Minnie, walked up to their table to take their order.

"Hello may I take your- great Scott!"

All of the Potters' heads jerked up from looking at the menus at her shout.

James and Lily gasped, "Professor!" they exclaimed.

Minerva McGonagall, transfiguration professor of Hogwarts, covered her mouth as she stared at the Potter couple, her hands trembling with rage. "How dare you! How dare you disguise yourselves to look like the Potters! They were great people who do not deserve such disrespect!"

The Potters looked confused. "Professor, there must be a misunderstanding, we are the Potters. It's me, James, your godson. I know I haven't kept in touch but you act as if I were dead?"

Minerva glared at him, "James is dead, he and his wife Lily died twelve years ago protecting their son Harry! I don't know who you think you are but I will call the Aurors to come deal with you!"

James stood "Professor it's me I promise! You gave me a child's broom on my first birthday telling my parents that you just knew I would be a great at quidditch one day and that you expected me to be flying for the house of the lion and no other."

Minerva paused and stared at James in confusion. "Only Charles and Dorea knew of that."

"My parents told me that I was so great at quidditch because I had been flying on a broom since I was one and that I had my Aunt Minnie to thank because of it."

Lily grasped James hand and told her old professor. "You once told me in confidence, when I was panicking over my transfiguration O. that I was doing much better at my age in transfiguration than you did. I was so shocked that I forgot my manners and asked you, a transfiguration master, how on earth you could have been bad at transfiguration and you replied 'I discovered boys my O.W.L year, a few winks and flirtatious grins could make a boy do practically anything I wanted, all I had to do was show up to class and I would make Os, but it didn't help me when it came time for me to do the tests on my own.' You then told me you were proud at how dedicated I was to my studies but that I did need to take a break before I ran myself into the ground worrying. I have never told anyone else those words you said to me till now."

The kids were confused as to why this lady, whom they had heard stories of growing up, thought their parents were dead.

"Mom, Dad, what's going on?" Alyssa asked.

"I don't know sweet heart, we will get to the bottom of this, don't worry." Lily smiled at her 15-year-old daughter.

Once James and Lily made sure their kids had food, they sat at a separate table for more privacy away from their children with Minerva to eat their dinner.

Minerva watched the Potters eat their dinner trying to understand how they were alive and wondering why, if they had been alive all this time, why they didn't take Harry with them wherever they had been all of these years. Why would they leave their little boy with such horrible Muggles, Lily grew up with Petunia she of all people should know that her sister hates magic. Once her former students had finished a little over half of their dinner she finally asked the question she had been pondering over.

"If you have been alive all this time why didn't you take Harry with you?"

James and Lily froze, but James replied. "You must be mistaken, Harry died twelve years ago."

"James I would know if I had been teaching your son these past two years, Harry is alive."

Lily had tears in her eyes, she dare not hope. "Are you sure? James and I were told that he had died and that his r-r-remains were so d-d-disfigured that we weren't allowed to see his body."

Minerva looked shocked. "Who told you that? I can prove Harry is alive and that he has been going to Hogwarts since he was eleven! He is in Gryffindor, your old house."

Lily and James held onto each other's hands for strength. "Please, don't give us hope if there isn't any, we couldn't bare it. My Lily flower has been through enough heartache, I have been through enough heartache."

Minerva's lips were in a tight line as she contemplated how to approach this, she was quite convinced that the couple before her was Lily and James but Harry's safety was at stake, she couldn't risk Harry. She had to prove they were who they said, not just take their word for it; she needed veritaserum. She knew Severus had some in stock, but did she really want to involve him? Severus loathed James, but he had been best friends with Lily during their school years before their fall out. She had to take a risk, hopefully Severus would work with her, she just didn't know how to explain this to him.

"Before I say another word of Harry I need to prove that you are who you claim to be, Harry's safety is far too important for me to just take your word. I will have to get a colleague involved who can help us."

* * *

Without waiting for a reply Minerva swept out of the room.

Severus Snape was standing over a potion in his lab waiting for the potion to be ready for the next step when he heard his floo flare to life. Checking the clock and then setting a timer for 10 minutes he swept into his main living space with a scowl on his face annoyed at being interrupted in his free time during the summer.

To his surprise, though his face showed no emotion, his colleague Minerva McGonagall was standing in front of his fireplace looking expectantly at him.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company tonight madam?" He said with sarcasm.

"Severus I need a bottle of veritaserum."

"I do not give out veritaserum."

"Severus this is an urgent matter that needs to be resolved immediately."

"Then surely you can take care of this matter on your own and not drag others into it. Some persons such as my self have more important things to do than to be dragged into whatever mess the cat has made."

"Severus I don't have the time nor the patience to deal with your stubbornness, just give me a bottle of veritaserum and I will be out of your way."

"For Christ's sake woman, veritaserum has to be administered carefully or else it can have serious repercussions, what is so urgent that you felt the need to come disturb me during my summer?"  
"I know how to administer it, if you don't trust me than come with me."

Severus glances at the clock above the mantle if he were to cast a freezing charm on the potion he could start right back where he left off. He looks back to his old professor.

"Indeed, if it is a matter of great urgency then let us make haste so that I can return to my dudderhead free summer."

"Severus, I must warn you, what you are about to see and if it is confirmed will shake the Wizarding world to its very core. This matter needs to be handled delicately, I have witnessed it, and they have given me information that only they could possibly know. Severus, the Potters are alive."

There was no sound in in the potion masters chambers; the said potions master stared emotionlessly at the old cat, imitating a statue perfectly.

"Severus I know it sounds crazy but I promise you I haven't gone crazy. I think it really is them; I just need the veritaserum to confirm it before I can move any further. They thought Harry was dead they had been told he was dead, while the Wizarding world had been told that they were dead and the other Potter children were forgotten in all of the hype of The-Boy-Who-Lived and Voldemort's defeat. Everyone was too busy celebrating to ask questions, now that I think about it, there were no body discovered at the Godric's Hollow to be buried; no one asked about the other four Potter children because their births had not been advertised in the war like many other families. Why didn't we ask these questions? Why didn't people who knew the Potters ask all of these-?"

"Enough of your incessant rambling, I would like to see these so called Potters before I make a judgment. But first I have a potion to tend to."

Severus soundlessly made his way to his potion, his mind racing with all this new information that had been presented to him. Why hadn't the Wizarding world asked more questions, why hadn't the Potters friends made more inquiries of the whereabouts of the bodies and the other children. So many possible scenarios played out in his mind as he cleaned up his workstation. ' _Lily could be alive.'_ Severus didn't want to get his hopes up, could they mend the bridge that had been burnt so many years ago? He froze, ' _Of course not, not after the way you treated her supposed dead son.'_ Severus took a moment to strengthen his occlumency shields and to harden his heart once more before stepping out once more with an emotional mask.

"Do you have some veritaserum?" The tabby asked

"Of course, whenever have I not had a potion on hand? Well, are you going to take me to "The Potters" or are we going to stand here gossiping like witless school girls?"

"Patience there is no need for such brass, the address is 'The Tabby's choice'. I hope you can find your way yes?"

Before Severus could reply she was gone. Taking a steadying breath Severus pinched some floo powder and threw it into the fireplace shouting 'The Tabby's choice' clearly.

* * *

A/N: I could use a Beta if anyone is interested. I would mostly need help with grammar, spelling, keeping my timeline straight and probably helping me make sure the information from HP is correct.

I am currently working on chapter two and i am so happy that the first chapter has already gotten some love! Thank you to all those who have favorited, followed, and left reviews. It truly is amazing to see the support, very encouraging.


	2. The perks of veritaserum

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from J. K. Rowling's original story but I do own the characters I create and the story I have written. If you would like to use any of it ask for permission.

Authors note: I am making the Marauders generation older by 5 years to work with my timeline.

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

The Potters were explaining to their children what had happened.

There were varying looks of shock and confusion on their children's faces.

"Wait, let me get this straight. So after you woke up in the hospital you were told that my baby brother Harry was dead and the person who told you wouldn't let you see his body. Then after you guys fled with us to South Carolina the Wizarding world was told that you guys were dead and that Harry was alive, and we four just happened to drop off the face of the earth? And now we are finding out that Harry is alive and everyone you know thinks you guys are dead? That's messed up dad!" Jessalyn cried out. "How did this happen? Who told you Harry was dead?"

"Minister Fudge, he was also the one that told the Wizarding world that we had died and Harry had lived." James replied.

"So this is all his fault? Why would he do that?"

"A power play of some sort I guess honey. Your father comes from a wealthy and noble pureblood family, if Fudge can get ahold of that he would go far in the political world. We can look in to that later, at the moment the only thing that matters is getting your brother back." Lily explained.

"Mom, what's a power play?" little Eliza asked.

"It means that someone is trying to make themselves more powerful or have a lot of influence over others. It's not always a nice thing to do to other people honey. I don't know what the Minister's goal was in all of this but I do know that it wasn't nice because the Minister hurt your daddy and I telling us that Harry was dead."

"Then he needs to go to the naughty step mommy! I get 5 minutes when I go there, he is bigger than me so he should get 10 minutes, right daddy?"

"Oh course princess."

"Are we going to be getting Harry back? Where has he been all of these years?" Alyssa asked.

"The professor has to make sure we are who we say we are. She has gone to get her coworker, they have veritaserum, which is a potion that makes the person taking it tell nothing but the truth, they cannot tell a lie. Minerva is going to ask your father and I some questions that only he and I would know to help prove that we are the Potters and not some bad people trying to get Harry, and then we will go find your brother and have him live with us like he should have since that Halloween night." Lily said.

"Harry has probably been living with your Uncle Sirius since that night, Alyssa, if the British Wizarding world was told that we were dead then that means Sirius thinks we are dead as well. Sirius has probably been raising Harry to be the next generation of the Marauders." James said with an excited grin thinking of all the pranks Harry has probably pulled over the years.

"He better have not! My baby boy will be doing no such thing! I will put a muzzle on that mutt if did! Remus must have reined Sirius in some, I would like to think that Remus gave Harry a love for learning and reading!" Lily said.

Eliza giggled "mommy that's silly! I'm gonna learn how to read big words and that will make me really smart!"

* * *

While everyone else was chatting about what Harry would be like Jessalyn was glaring at the table with an angry tear making its way down her cheek. She was old enough to vaguely remember her baby brother Harry, she remembered holding him, helping him learn how to walk and trying to sound out words in books to read to him like any good big sister would. She remembered his sweet face smiling up at her with those rosy baby cheeks and big green eyes.

She had always envied her siblings who inherited their mother's eyes, she loved her father, she has his crazy hair, but she had always wanted to have green eyes.

Jessalyn thought of all those times her parents had cried when they thought no one was looking, on Harry's birthday every year; or how they always stared at Harry's picture on top of the mantel, lost in thought with a sad look in their eyes. They could have been spared all that pain had that dumb old man had left things well enough alone. ' _I should give him a bloody nose next time I see him.'_ She thought with a smug satisfaction of causing pain to the one who caused all of this.

Jessalyn, wiping away the tear that had escaped, looked to her left when she heard a sniffle. Her little sister Jessica was trying not to cry, the poor little girl had been told stories of her big brother and had always wished she had had the chance to get to know him.

Jessica had wanted a big brother who wasn't as old and big as Jace and Carter, Jacob didn't count because he was three minutes younger than her. Maybe when they got Harry back he could be her best big brother ever; He could play tag with her and not tell her she couldn't play because she was too little or because she was a girl; he might even play dress up with her.

Jacob had similar problems, his big brothers were eleven years older than him, he had been growing up surrounded by girls, his older brothers were always telling him he couldn't play with them because he was too little, he would break it or he wouldn't understand the game. He had always wished that Harry had been there because Harry would have let him play games with him.

* * *

Minerva briskly walked in the front room of her sister's restaurant, the placed had closed twenty minutes ago so only the Potters were in there; she was hoping to catch James' reaction to seeing Severus again. They had been rivals in school and though many years had passed Minerva thought James would not react well to seeing his old rival. She had always been telling James off during his school years for bullying Severus, pulling cruel pranks on him for the sake of a laugh. Severus wasn't completely the victim, he gave just about as well as he got, though he was sneakier when planning and executing his plans. Minerva didn't think that James would have changed, his reaction to Severus would tell her if it was her godson or not.

She heard the floo behind her but kept her eyes on James, she could hear Severus just behind her, the Potters looked up at seeing her and all of the children tried to peek behind her to see the new guest. The moment James saw Severus his eyes widened and he glanced at Lily looking unsure, Lily reached over and gave her husbands had a squeeze and nodded to him. James stood up and slowly walked toward Severus, Minerva prepared herself to separate them the second it turned ugly.

* * *

Severus froze behind his old transfiguration professor, his face not betraying his emotions, his eyes locked on a certain green eyed red head. The feelings from their friendship and strong bond that they had once shared were slowly creeping out from that dark corner of his heart that he had hidden them in, all of those happy memories of their time as children were playing before his eyes as if he were in a pensive. She was alive and breathing and that was all that mattered, his heart ached with longing to go over and embrace his childhood friend and never let her go; he felt that he had failed in protecting her the first time he could not fail her again.

So focused on Lily he did not notice that someone was walking towards him till they were standing in front of him blocking his view of Lily, Severus' eyes locked with James'. The room was silent once more, the children were confused, Lily had a small smile on her face and Minerva was tense, after several nerve-racking moments James made the first move.

He held out his hand with an apologetic smile, "Severus Snape, we meet again, lets start this off with 'I don't like you, probably never will, but I'm sorry for tormenting you all of our Hogwarts years, even if you gave as good as you got, I'm the one who started our rivalry on the train.' But if you can prove that we are who we claim to be and get us one step closer to our Harry then by all means I will gladly tolerate you. Truce?"

Severus stared at the hand in front of him as if it were covered in dragon dung, his first instinct was to sneer and insult Potter but he glanced over the shoulder of his rival and saw Lily looking so hopeful at the two of them that he knew he had to swallow his comment and accept if he wanted to renew his friendship with Lily.

Much to Severus' displeasure he slowly reached out and took Potter's hand shook it once, and then pulled out a hanky to wipe off the filth that had contaminated him. "A truce indeed, _Mr. Potter_ , but let it be known that should you prove to not be the infamous glorified James Potter I will take great pleasure in eradicating you from this world and allow the great fiery hell consume you."

James smirked, "You haven't changed one bit, not surprised. I am James Potter, I know my word isn't enough but I guess that's why Minnie brought you here because if you are anything like you were in our school days you are potions obsessed and more than likely became a potions master. Well Severus, bring out the veritaserum, Lily-flower and I are ready."

* * *

Minerva's sister was kind enough to offer to entertain the children while the adults sat down to settle matters.

"Veritaserum can be extremely lethal if not given the proper dose. Potter, you first." Severus gestured to the chair in front of him.

James sat in said chair and looked to Lily as the three drops of the potion were administered. His eyes glazed over and his head felt fogged.

"I will be asking the questions. State your name." said Severus.

"James Charles Potter."

"Date of birth."

"March 27, 1955"

"What year was it when Black tried to have me murdered."

"Our 6th year of Hogwarts, 1971."

"Were you aware of this plot?"

"No as soon as Sirius told me what he had done I ran to go save you and Remus."

"What happened on Halloween night 1981?"

"Lily and I were getting ready to put Harry down for the night, I was entertaining him while Lily went to go get his favorite dummy. I had given him his goodnight kiss and handed him off to Lily and waved to him as they were walking up the stairs when the front door blasted in. I yelled at Lily to take Harry and run; that I would hold him off. I had forgotten my wand on the couch where I had been making colorful bubbles appear for Harry, so I tried to physically jump Voldemort. I bounced off a shield he had created and as I stumbled backwards he casted a blasting curse that had me soring into the air. I don't know what I landed on but I blacked out and did not wake up until the next day. Minister Fudge told me that my son was dead and that I should flee the country with my wife and children. My wife and I packed what little belongings we had left and took our children the first flight out of the UK. The plane took us to America, South Carolina to be more specific, Lily and I fell in love with the community and that is where we have stayed since."

Severus looked to Minerva "Do you have anything you would like to add?"

"Yes I do, James was it you or Sirius who charmed my clothes to smell like catnip for a week back in your second year?"

"Me, I figured it would be funny. You on the other hand were very twitchy the rest of the week."

Minerva looked peeved. "Very well, Severus if you would administer the antidote, I do believe that this is James Potter."

Severus did so, and it took a moment for James to clear his head before he sheepishly looked at Minerva trying to gage the expression on her face.

"Were I not so relieved to see you alive once more adult or not you would be spending a detention with me for that catnip incident."

Lily hurried everyone along, eager to get this over with and be allowed to hold her son again.

"The faster we prove who we are the faster we can get our Harry back."

"Very well." Severus dosed her. "What is your name?"

"Lillian Marie Potter Nee Evans. But friends and family call me Lily."

"Your birthday."

"January 30th, 1955"

"What year did we discontinue our friendship and why?"

"1970, I defended you after James and his friends were bullying you. You showed me that I was right in saying that you were hanging out with the wrong sort by calling me a mudblood."

"What gift did you give me for my 9th birthday?"  
"A Muggle book on wizardry and I wrote on the inside of the front cover "To my first Wizarding friend. May you find this as insightful and positively medieval as I. Love Lily."

"What happened on Halloween night 1981?"  
"It was Harry's bedtime, he wasn't a fussy baby but he had to have his favorite dummy or else he wouldn't sleep. James was in the living room with Harry keeping him entertained, I had finally found Harry's dummy, and it was up on the side of the bathroom tub. I took Harry from James after they had said their goodnights for the evening; I was about halfway up the stairs when the front door blasted in. James yelled at me to take Harry and run away that he would hold off Voldemort. I heard James confronting Voldemort as I barricaded Harry and myself in his nursery; I placed Harry in his crib and tried to push his dresser in front of his door. I hear a loud crash downstairs then silence, I thought to myself ' _Dear God, please let James live, please get us all out of this alive!'_ The dresser is halfway covering the door when I heard the top step of the stairs squeak; I left the dresser and stood in front of my baby. I hugged him and gave him a kiss before placing him back down in his crib and I began whispering to him "Harry, mummy and daddy love you so much my sweet little baby! Always remember that you are so loved and I will do anything and everything in my power to save you." I was still whispering to Harry when the door basted open knocking me into the crib, thankfully not knocking it over. My back was aching, Harry was crying, I began to plead to Voldemort. "Please! Not my baby, please not my baby! Have mercy he is just a baby! Take me instead!" I know Voldemort was telling me to stand aside but I wouldn't, I refused to stand aside and have my child murdered because of it.

Voldemort grew impatient and finally blasted me into the wall where I was knocked unconscious. I woke up in the hospital where Minister Fudge told me that harry had not survived and then told James and I to flee the country; we took the next flight out with the rest of our children and we ended up creating roots in South Carolina where we have lived until now."

Severus looked around him, Minerva had tears in her eyes and Potter looked close to crying as well; he turned back to Lily and administered the antidote.

The moment the antidote worked Lily burst into tears, James came over to her and eloped her in a hug. "It's alright Lily flower, we've just found out that our little Harry is alive! We will get him back my love were he belongs!"

After a few moments of silence the Potters gained their composure and looked to the two professors. James said, "Have we proved that we are James and Lily Potter?"

"Yes I most certainly think you have. Have you a house in England that would have enough room for everyone?" Minerva inquired.

"Yes, its out in Westleton in Saxmundham. It is a two-story house with a wraparound porch it has twelve bedrooms, one for each of the kids then our bedroom, and a few guest rooms. The furniture arrived yesterday its just a matter of setting up the rooms, one of the reasons I love magic so much, it makes everything so much easier than when I was growing up muggle." Lily said.

"I believe I could pick up Harry tomorrow morning and explain everything to him and have him come to your house by tomorrow evening." Said Minerva.

"Where do he and Sirius live? Surely not Sirius's old dinky apartment?" James inquired.

"Why on earth would Harry be living with that traitor?" Severus asked.

James cried "Traitor! Sirius would never betray us, what on earth are you talking about?"

"Sirius was your secret keeper! He was the one who betrayed you to the Dark Lord!" Severus cried as if it were the most obvious thing.

"No he wasn't. Peter was, we switched at the last minute and had Sirius act as a decoy. Sirius was never the secret keeper."

"Oh dear, oh my! You mean to tell me that Sirius is innocent?" Minerva gasped with her second shock for the night.

"Why would you think he is guilty? Surely he was questioned like we were?" asked Lily

"No, no he wasn't, he killed 12 muggles along with Peter and was thrown in Azkaban! He has been in there for the past 12 years!" said Minerva

"Sirius would never kill muggles let alone kill Peter even if he had betrayed us!" Lily nearly shouted.

"Then where has Harry been living?" asked James

"With your sister and her family Lily, has been since November 1st 1981."

"You sent my baby to live where!"

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A/N: This one took a lot longer to write than I thought it would! I had wanted to have it finished and uploaded last week but I got stuck on the interrogation scene. Next Chapter will hopefully have some Harry in it. I'm trying to make sure that I have the timeline straightened out.

Still looking for a beta!

Thank you to everyone who wrote a review!


	3. Its a process

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from J. K. Rowling's original story but I do own the characters I create and the story I have written. If you would like to use any of it ask for permission.

Authors note: I am making the Marauders generation older by 5 years to work with my timeline.

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Chapter 3

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Shallow breathing echoed through the small room. A young boy lay asleep on a cot, restlessly moving about in the throws of a fevered dream. Harry Potter was sick and had been since the last week of school. What he had thought to be summer allergies turned into something much worse than that. The first week home from Hogwarts Harry had the sniffles, unintentionally drawing the unwanted attention from his ' _loving relatives.'_

"Boy! If you brought any freakishness into this household that will infect us normal people I'll beat you until your freakishness leaves… or you die, either way, ill teach you a lesson! Inflicting us good normal folks with your unnaturalness, savage I say!" Vernon yelled, spit flying into Harry's face.

After that unpleasant confrontation, Harry was more discreet with his sniffles. Whatever was ailing Harry progressively got worse as the days went on, by the end of June he was having trouble catching his breath and there was a distinct rattle in his chest. Doing his chores made him so weak before noon, his aunt decided that she was above any and all cooking and that it was so lowly that Harry was now the chef of the house. Poor Harry was now in charge of lawn care, household duty, maintenance, cleaning his uncle's car and now cooking 3 meals a day for his family.

Harry's illness seemed to encourage his family to treat him as they did before his Hogwarts letter: the slaps, the fists, the cupboard room, the scraps of food every few days, the list of chores as long as he is tall. But the worst yet, the belt was back. Harry could deal with everything else; he had grown numb to those when he was but a young lad. The one thing he had never grown numb to was Uncle Vernon's strap, a thick leather belt that covered a large proportion of Harry's small body. Uncle Vernon did not care where he hit Harry as long as his final results ended with a bit of blood from the boy or he would pass out; he let Petunia fret about the neighbors.

Harry sat in his room shivering, mumbling in a mocking voice.

"It's just a cold, it will go away on its own."

Harry had the sniffles just before school let out for the summer and went against his friends' insistence to go see Madame Pomfrey for a pepper-up potion to make him well again. He had stated that it was nothing and would go away very soon, now almost two months later it had developed into something much worse.

He had trouble breathing, his chest hurt, every breath felt as if he were sucking air through a straw, he shivered as the time leading him to believe he had a pretty high fever.

He had such a hard time doing all of his chores because of how tired and weak he felt, he couldn't keep anything down as of the last week or so.

A sharp rap on the cupboard door followed by a harpy like voice was the first thing that greeted Harry that morning.

"Get up! Breakfast won't start its self! Don't burn the bacon or your uncle won't be pleased! Don't get your freakishness on anything!" Aunt Petunia snapped.

Harry still didn't understand why his relatives called his summer flue his "freakishness," muggles got the flu as well so what was the big deal? Harry slowly rolled himself into a sitting position so that his vision wouldn't go all wonky again making the room spin. He went to push open the cupboard door but it wouldn't budge, bugger, Aunt Petunia hadn't unlocked the door. Harry hated it when she forgot or purposely left the door locked. If Harry called out to alert her he would get smacked but if he waited for her to notice she would either come retrieve him and smack him or she would wait for Uncle Vernon to come downstairs to no breakfast and claim that Harry was having a lay in and was refusing to get up. Both options were bad it was just a matter of smack from Aunt Petunia or belt from uncle Vernon. Really the choice was obvious.

 **Knock** **Knock**

"Aunt Petunia? The door is locked, I can't get out." Harry croaked through his raw throat.

"You Lazy Brat! You took forever to wake up! I should just leave you to the mercy of your uncle!" Aunt Petunia ranted as she unlocked the small door under the stairs.

She would rather not have to cook rather than let Harry get a well-deserved beating. Once Harry crawled out of his cupboard, he thanked his aunt and hurried to fix breakfast before his uncle came down. Sadly Harry knew he would not be receiving breakfast because he spoke up to correct his aunt. Even if it was her fault that she forgot to unlock the door he had to speak up and correct her to be let out! Harry knew this was illogical but not many things ere very logical when it came to the Dursley's.

After the Dursley's had their breakfast Aunt Petunia Presented Harry with his list of chores for the day and uncle Vernon made his usual threats of belts and orphanages before ruffling Dudley's hair and kissing aunt petunia's cheek before stomping off to work. Dudley ran off to go torture children with is gang while aunt petunia left the house murmuring about a new book club at number 12's house. Finally, harry was let alone with his thoughts and a list nearly as long as he is tall. Looking down Harry decided that starting the dishwasher and laundry would be best before tackling the rest of the indoor chores. The outdoor chores needed to be done as well. Harry didn't understand why the lawn needed to be mowed again; he just did that yesterday. Aunt Petunia must be running out of ideas for chores, which meant the weird chores were soon to come. Chores like organizing and cleaning the attic and shed, or cleaning the cleaning appliances. Must keep the freak busy, heaven forbid he have a day or two to rest.

* * *

While poor Harry was doing his chores, there was a couple talking about said overworked boy.

"How will we introduce this horribly cruel circumstance we have all been put in? James, he won't think that because we had more children after '81 that we just forgot about him? How on earth will he adjust? Not only is his mom and dad alive but also he has a Weasley worthy quantity of siblings! James he his going to hate us!"

Lily ranted as she passed in the master bedroom of their new home. It had been one week since they had met with McGonagall at her sister's tavern. James was sitting on the master bed watching as his wife wore out the new floors. He had all of the doubts that Lily had but he was trying to be strong for her. Internally he was having a complete meltdown thinking about Harry and how he and lily were going to have to jump through hoops to just be able to see Harry. All James and Lily wanted to do was grab Harry and hold him till everything was right. He and Lily just wanted to be a family again, a whole family with their baby boy.

* * *

Severus Snape sat in his quarters at Hogwarts thinking about everything that he had done wrong in his life. How he had lost Lily by calling her that horrid name. How he couldn't protect his mother from his muggle father when he was 15. Joining the dark lord at 16 almost 17; overhearing the prophecy and relaying it to the dark lord. That led the Dark Lord to go after the Potters and the Dark Lord then "killed" his beloved Lily. Now his biggest regret is that he was cruel to Lily's son, not her only son, he had heard that she had other children but when they did not appear at Hogwarts before Harry the Wizarding world assumed that the rumor of her other children was false.

Now finding out that not only that is lily alive but also her husband and other children make Severus both elated and absolutely sick to his stomach. Elated that his Lily-flower is alive but dread and sick because soon the entire Potter family will soon learn of his treatment of their long lost baby Harry. Severus Snape had already lost any chance of reconnecting with Lily because of his petty resentment and hatred of the oldest Potter that he transferred to, at the time, only known Potter. The very thought of Lily finding this information made Severus want to break his promise to himself to never take a sip of any alcohol and drink himself into a stupor or even to death. He swore to himself that he would never become the worthless drunk that his father was. Nothing Severus could do now would counteract in Lily's eyes the damage he inflicted upon her baby that she lost. He might even be a hindrance to her goal of gaining custody of Harry once more. Once a death eater always a death eater would be on repeat at the Ministry should he be mentioned at all. He could be a researcher and find all the needed information she might need to go through the proper channels to declare her death certificate to be false and to make sure she gets custody of young Potter without too much of a problem or roadblock. Of course, he would only help Lily, he would never do anything for the eldest Potter! Merlin help Lily get Black out of Azkaban, Severus refused to even entertain the idea of ever helping Black, that was the elder Potter's problem.

* * *

Minerva McGonagall sat in her sister's tavern pouring over law books from the Hogwarts library. Not surprising at all there was little to no information on proving your death certificate to be false. A situation that the Potter family has found themselves in was indeed unique. Minerva had only found one other case of a false death certificate, a man who had been a soldier in the Grindelwald war. He had been injured in a rural area where no one was able to locate him, after two months of searching the Ministry declared him dead. The injured man had been found by chance a month after the death certificate was signed. The man who had been injured and lost without his wand for three months was very angry to find out that he had to jump through many hoops to be declared alive. While recovering in St. Mungos the poor wizard had to be monitored for make sure he wasn't polyjuiced, he had to give a blood sample to the healers to have tests run to make sure he was who he said to be. He had to be subjected to the goblin's identification ritual and once he was able to he had to go before the entire Wizengamot and take veritaserum and answer a long series of questions before having the court look at all of the evidence to support the lone wizard. Finally, the court voted on whether or not they believed the wizard said who he claimed to be. Thankfully he was, his death certificate was turned over and he had his identity back. The book went on to state that the wizard, still unnamed in the book, then had to go to Gringotts and had to redo the identification ritual and once proven to be said wizard he had to fill out mounds of paperwork to get his properties and small fortune back.

The process looked long and exhausting! Poor James and Lily were going to have to go through this if they went ahead and went to the healers for the tests and then go to the goblins and get them involved maybe that would help them when they went to appeal with the Wizarding court. Minerva didn't even want to think about the journey to get Harry back, the poor boy. How on earth are they going to tell him that not only are his parents alive but he has an abundance of siblings? Adjusting to having parents would probably be the best option so that Harry could adjust and so that James and Lily could learn what needs their son would need.

Minerva jerked upright eyes wide, Merlin help Severus once Lily and James found out how he treated their baby, help Albus too when they discover how Harry ended at the Dursley's and how his first school year went. A lot of people will soon feel the justified wrath of James and Lily Potter.

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A/N: I cannot believe how long it has been since i updated! Real life got really crazy really fast! Between crazy school and family members getting sick time got away from me! Sorry about that guys! This chapter is a not really a filler but its to help get the ball rolling on how James and Lily are going to get Harry back and declare themselves alive again. Don't know when i'll update again... I wanted to add more to this chapter but after writing that last sentence i thought that was a good place to stop. I hope you guys like it.


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